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“Hurt me?” he snickered devilishly. “You think a puny girl like you can hurt a man like me?”

“You don’t want to find out,” I taunted, a smirk appearing on my face. “You’re not much of a man anyway.” I watched his eyes fill with rage at the insult.

“Shut up, whore,” the man shrieked. In a moment, he was rushing towards me, his arms splayed out like he was going to tackle me. I stepped out of the way at the precise moment, and kicked my foot out, causing the man to trip on my ankle and fall flat onto the stony shore of the river.

“You have one more chance to give my knife back,” I boomed at the fallen man. “And then maybe I’ll let you walk away with what little dignity you have left.”

The man wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Without saying a word, he reached out to grab my wrist with his free hand. I tried to twist out of his grasp, but he squeezed so tightly, I could already feel the bruising. Remembering my recent rounds of training with Elias, I used my free arm and brought my elbow down on the man’s forearm with great force. He screamed as I heard a crack when my elbow made contact. He pulled his arm away in agony, and I used the moment to grab my knife from his other hand. He let go of it quickly, and began holding his now likely broken arm.

“You fucking bitch,” he spat. “I’ll fucking kill you!”

He stood up and began to launch himself towards me, but I shot my knife up. He stopped immediately, the blade pointing directly at his throat, only inches from slicing it.

“Tsk, tsk,” I clicked, waving the knife back and forth. “You’ve already lost this fight. It does not have to end in death.”

The man snarled, then spat at my feet. Then I watched as a grin unexpectedly reached the corners of his mouth, his black teeth starting to peek through. “Your fate will be worse than death, little bitch. I promise you that.”

My eyes narrowed and I noticed the man’s gaze briefly dart behind me, then back at me. I quickly glanced over my shoulder, and for a split-second saw two large men behind me, one of them with a huge rock in hand, before it smashed against my temple.

Then everything went black.

As I nodded in and out of consciousness, I felt my boots being dragged against the earth. My head was pounding. I must have been so engrossed in my first successful fight, that I didn’t evenhear the other men come up on me. I attempted to open my eyes, but the task seemed impossible. So instead, I tried to focus on what I could feel and hear.

“Are we almost there?” a burly voice complained. The voice of the person dragging me, I deduced.

“Shut the fuck up, you idiot,” the familiar voice of the man at the lake hissed back. “It’s right around the corner.”

“I can’t wait to get my hands on those breasts,” a third, unfamiliar voice chimed in. Then I heard awhacknoise, like a slap against skin.

“Fuck off, Remi. No one touches her until the boss sees her.”

I heard Remi whimper. “But look at her,” he squealed. “She’s the most beautiful one yet. I can’t resist.” I heard another slap, and what sounded like Remi falling to the ground. “Ow, Vick!” he whimpered.

“The fuck did I just say?!” Vick shrieked. I presumed he was the leader of this disgraceful trio. “Nobody fucking touches her before we take her to Markus.”

“My arms is gettin’ tired from draggin’ her,” the burly voice spoke again.

“Ripp, you giant fucking oaf. I said we’re almost there, now shut the fuck up.”

Ripp let out a huff in reply.

Trying to focus on their voices proved a difficult task, and I slipped into unconsciousness again. The next thing I knew, I was being shoved onto the ground. I groaned and my eyes blinked open slowly.

“Well good morning, little whore,” Vick mocked. “What’s that you said about me losing the fight?” I could hear a smile in his tone.

I blinked a few times more, the haze over my vision fading. I saw Vick standing above me while his two lackeys stood a few feet back. Vick’s arm was wrapped up in a makeshift sling, confirming that I very well may have broken it.

We appeared to be in some sort of tent. I noted a small sleepingcorner, with filthy blankets. I attempted to reach up and touch the side of my head where a splitting pain was emanating, but found that my hands were tied behind my back. I peered down at my shoulder and saw a small pool of blood, assuming it was from the gaping wound in my temple.

“Ripp got you good!” Remi shouted excitedly from where he stood.

I furrowed my brow and looked back at Vick. “All I can conclude is that you would have lost the fight if your two sidekicks didn’t show up to save you. How fitting.” I slowly sat up, and watched as Vick’s face began to turn red. “Maybe if you untie me, they can watch me break your other arm.”

“You know…” he began, a sinister tone in his words. “I wasn’t going to let any of us have our way with you. But with a smart-ass mouth like that, I think you deserve to be punished.”

He reached down and grabbed my throat with his uninjured arm, then started ripping at my shirt with his other, unbothered by the pain it must have brought him. I tried to wriggle from his grasp, but was saved when Ripp and Remi pulled their leader off of me.

“No, Vick! Remember what you said!” Remi shouted. “Markus will kill us all if you do anything before he sees her.”